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This in, a rave review of the Edmonton Oilers organization as a prime destination for NHL talent from mover and shaker Brian Lawton, a former GM and ex-managing director of hockey for the Octagon agency, the same group that now represents Leon Draisaitl.
The Oilers today are nothing like they used to be in the late 2000s after Chris Pronger demanded a trade out of town.
“When people ask me why I am so bullish on Edmonton it’s because they’re through those (tough) times. They’re ready to explode. People want to play with Connor. They want to play with Leon. They want to play with so many other guys on this team. It’s a huge selling point. And even though it’s not a no-state tax (jurisdiction), players don’t care. There’s a group of players out there that are the players you want in your organization. They’re not a group of players that are mercenary. You don’t want those guys. You want the guys that want to win, and that’s what Edmonton is selling now, and quite frankly that’s why the future is very bright for this team.”
The Oilers organization is top drawer, right down to the palatial dressing room for visiting teams, Lawton said. “I think it was genius for the Oilers when they build their building, such a beautiful hotel right there. Incredible facilities, light in the building, these are all the little things I hear from players.”
Lawton said he’s around current players every summer, picking their brains about what they like and don’t like about each NHL franchise. “You can’t believe the positive feedback I get on Edmonton, and that is a big reason I’m bullish on it. It’s not just hearsay. It’s not just lip service. It’s what players are talking about and it’s why Edmonton is going to continue their rise up the ranks until they start winning championships.”
Most of the Oilers contracts are excellent, Lawton said, mentioning the Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evander Kane, Zach Hyman, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins deals specifically. “There’s just a lot of value on this roster… And heaven help the rest of the league when the cap jumps up. Edmonton is going to be a dominant club… Assuming they can sign Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, they will be a dominant club for the next 10 years. If you really look what’s gone on there, Ken Holland has done an incredible job. I don’t think he gets enough credit for what he’s done… He’s back on top of his game.”
Paul Coffey has also had a major and positive impact, Lawton said, adding that a lot of the best people now want to work for the Oilers. “They don’t need to beg anybody to work for them. People can recognize the opportunity around that whole philosophy of what’s going on there.”
My take
1. There’s been times in recent years when the Oilers and Edmonton have been the target of brutal and sometimes unfair criticism from NHL insiders. At those times I’ve always said the same thing, that it’s all just words, that it doesn’t matter, that all that matters happens on the ice, the winning and the losing. I’ll be consistent then, and suggest that as welcome as these words might be to the Oilers faithful, to Northern Alberta’s great and zealous cult of hockey, these are only fine words. They mean nothing if the Oilers don’t get it done on the ice.
2. That said, Lawton is a credible and sensible observer of the NHL, a hockey insider. What he says about how outside players interpret the Oilers is meaningful, in that it reflects what we’ve been seeing and will continue to see, star players like Zach Hyman, Evander Kane and Tyson Barrie choosing to be here so they can part of the Edmonton story now being written.
3. Congratulations to owner Daryl Katz, to GM Ken Holland, to coach Jay Woodcroft and others in the organization for building up this franchise. Of course, Edmonton got the luckiest of all luck in winning the lottery to draft Connor McDavid. But the team is now building wisely on that luck. How many other GMs had the guts to take a chance on a controversial player like Evander Kane? It was likely the single best in-season acquisition of the 2021-22 season. And there’s broad consensus that the Mattias Ekholm deal was the best in-season acquisition of the 2022-23 season.
4. Katz got a lot of heat and no small amount of hate for pushing so hard for an Edmonton arena deal. Many folks hated the amount of public money going into that deal. That’s fair enough. Critics of the deal had other priorities than the keeping the Oilers in Edmonton and building up the downtown. But the downtown arena and Ice district is one of the few bright spots in our otherwise struggling downtown, still feeling the ugly impact of COVID lockdown policy and of permitted open air drug use and its related chaos, crime and human desperation. Think how depressing our downtown would be without this one super nova of activity, life and vibrancy. I supported the deal because I’d seen how such arena districts helped out struggling downtowns in Columbus, Ohio and in Los Angeles. I figured it would work here. I’ll suggest it’s worked.
5. The excellent arena facility and excellent modern hotel, JW Marriott Edmonton Ice District, also appear to be part of the lure of Edmonton to outside NHL players. Of course, our downtown has far to go, as it has suffered major setbacks with the twin pandemics of COVID and fentanyl, but when the area does take off, the arena district will shine even more brightly.
6. This isn’t to suggest that all of Holland’s moves have been strong. Some were whopping failures. And he’s also had to make the best of the hangover from some of former GM Peter Chiarelli’s whopping failures. But this could indeed be the start of something big for Edmonton. Instead of the Decade of Darkness, how about a Decade of Light, light with a certain silvery gleam if you know what I mean?
But, again, until the Oilers win, and until Draisaitl and McDavid sign new deals, these are all just fine words. Nothing matters but what happens on the ice.
